Many devices for the medical industry have been developed which provide information regarding required medical treatment or the status of a patient's file. Most of these devices require the medical staff member to observe several items of information on the file or chart holder, or to complete a series of manual tasks with regard to the device in order to display information and maintain current file history.
Edward Mulloy, U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,893, presents a reference device to indicate required medical procedures. Multiple rotary dials must be turned in addition to adjusting sliding indicators to present various indicia through multiple viewing windows, sliding scales and the dials.
D. Arblaster, U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,434 has provided a file chart clip to be secured to a chart holder to indicate whether or not a series of presurgical steps have been completed. In its preferred embodiment the names of the various procedures are printed on the clip such that a slider tab is moved to cover each printed procedure as it is completed and spell out a message that the patient is ready for surgery.
Other inventions such as that of Elsie Anderson, U.S. Pat. No. 2,731,941 have been developed which merely operate as a signal without providing more information to the doctors or nurses regarding the patient's care status. Anderson's chart holder warning signal uses a sliding mechanism to indicate whether the doctor's orders have been carried out or not. Rather than providing information as to the specific services, the signal is merely a two way signaling device, operating in one of two selected positions.
A hospital chart holder warning signal unit was provided by George Block, U.S. Pat. No. 3,304,907 in which a movable disk with a viewing area is rotated on a static disk to preselected positions to indicate information regarding treatment.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a novel medical indicating device which would alternatively display a variety of selectable colors or other indicia to represent required medical services.
A further objective is to provide an indicator which conveys necessary medical information without requiring time consuming review of several sources of data or require much manual operation.
A further objective is to provide a light, compact medical indicating device which may be attached and removed easily and is less bulky on the file or chart holder.
A further objective is to provide a medical indicating device which may be molded from a light plastic or similar material requiring fewer mechanical parts.